Munising, Michigan

Munising (/ˈmjuːnəsɪŋ/ MEW-nə-sing) is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Alger County, Michigan. The population was 1,986 at the 2020 census. The city is partially surrounded by Munising Township, but the two are administered autonomously.

Located on the southern shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, it serves as the western gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The area encompassing Munising has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Ojibwe and Noquet, who used the low lying grasslands opposite Grand Island to harvest blueberries and other crops. The name for the city comes from the Ojibwe word minisiing, meaning "at the island". A post office was established as the Munising post office on December 22, 1868. It was renamed as Gogarnville on October 23, 1889, when Julius Gogarn was appointed as postmaster. The office was moved to his farm. He was a German-born American Civil War veteran and first Supervisor of Munising Township. That post office continued until July 15, 1893.

Munising is located on the southern edge of Munising Bay, also known as the South Bay of Grand Island Harbor, across from Grand Island around the mouth of the Anna River. It is the primary embarkation point for cruises to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Grand Island National Recreation Area. Grand Island is located one half mile north in Munising Bay.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.03 square miles (23.39 km²), of which 5.25 square miles (13.60 km²) is land and 3.78 square miles (9.79 km²) is water.

The Munising area has many waterfalls including Alger Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Memorial Falls, Munising Falls, Miners Falls, Scott Falls, Tannery Falls and Wagner Falls.

Munising has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with cool to warm summers coupled with cold winters with heavy lake-effect snowfall.

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,355 people, 1,032 households, and 592 families living in the city. The population density was 448.6 inhabitants per square mile (173.2/km²). There were 1,252 housing units at an average density of 238.5 units per square mile (92.1 units/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.2% White, 0.2% African American, 4.8% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.4% of the population.